Report Card 2010

Villanova University

Dining Survey

With the publication of the
College
Sustainability
Report
Card
2010, more than 1,100 school survey responses from over 300 institutions are now available online. In total, these
surveys
offer more than 10,000 pages of data collected from colleges and universities during the
summer
of
2009
. To access surveys from other schools, go to the
surveys section
of the website. To see grades, or to access additional surveys submitted by this school, please click the "Back to Report Card" link at the beginning or end of the survey.

LOCALLY GROWN AND PRODUCED FOOD
Note: Geographic location and seasonal availability are taken into account in assessing your response. "Local" is defined as within 150 miles of your campus.
2) Do you have any formal policies pertaining to local purchases?
[X] No*

Yes. Please describe and provide URL, if available:

*Although Villanova Dining Services does not have a formal policy on local purchases, it does implement green practices—including local purchases—and publicly states its commitment to such practices as part of its overall commitment to sustainability. (http://www.villanova.edu/services/dining/sustainability/) A number of examples of these practices are described below.

Villanova Dining Services has partnered with US Foodservice and Primo Produce for the purchase of the university’s fruits and vegetables. Primo contracts with local farmers (located in the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Delaware, and Ohio)* to purchase fruits, vegetables, and herbs in season at the $10,000,000 level, which represents 25 percent of Primo’s total produce purchases. Through this partnership, Villanova purchases produce from approximately 65 farms in these states, representing 19 percent of the university’s overall produce purchases.

*Please note that the information provided in this report is based on this six-state definition of “local,” rather than the definition above, which specifies a 150-mile radius. At this time, Villanova does not have data on its purchases within a 150-mile radius.

Please also note, when considering this six-state definition, that Philadelphia’s location is such that cities in a number of different states can sometimes be relatively close. For example, New York City is 95 miles away from Philadelphia; the Delaware capital of Dover is 80 miles away; Baltimore, Maryland is 105 miles away; and Camden, New Jersey is 5 miles away.

In addition to local produce purchases, Villanova Dining Services supports local dairies, purchasing all

university dairy products exclusively from a local dairy.

Lastly, in partnership with the Villanova Grounds Crew, Villanova Dining Services has two herb gardens, which are located outside Villanova’s two largest resident dining halls.

Questions 3-5 pertain to locally
grown
purchases.

3).From how many local farms or growers do you purchase (excluding on-campus farms/gardens)?
[#0] Number from which you purchase directly.
[#65] Number from which you purchase through a distributor. Please specify name and location of distributor: US Foodservice in Allentown, Pennsylvania (Primo Produce, mentioned above, delivers to Villanova via US Foodservice)
4) How much do you spend annually on purchasing food that was grown or raised locally?
[$875,000]

9) Do you purchase milk from a local dairy?
No
[X] Yes. Please provide name of dairy and location: Wawa—Wawa, Pennsylvania

10) Do you source any food from an on-campus farm or garden?
No
[X] Yes. Please describe source and amount: Herbs grown in 2 campus gardens, yielding approximately 100 pounds.

11) Do you participate in a farm-to-school program?
[X] No
Yes. Please describe program:

ORGANIC AND SUSTAINABLY PRODUCED FOOD

12) Do you have any formal policies pertaining to the purchase of organic and/or sustainably produced food?
[X] No*
Yes. Please describe and provide URL, if available:

*Again, although Villanova Dining Services does not have a formal policy on organic/sustainable purchases, it does implement green practices—including organic/sustainable purchases—and publicly states its commitment to such practices as part of its overall commitment to sustainability. (http://www.villanova.edu/services/dining/sustainability/) Examples of these practices are described in the responses below.

13) Do you purchase organically grown or produced food?
No
[X] Yes. Please list items: Fruits, vegetables, dressings, and groceries

14) How much do you spend annually on organically grown or produced food?
[$275,000]
Since 2006, Villanova Dining Services has been purchasing and offering organic produce, organic fruits, and organic groceries. The largest retail food outlet on campus, the Belle Air Terrace, features a completely organic salad bar.

20) Do you offer specifically labeled vegan entrees on a daily, weekly, or other regularly scheduled basis?
[X] Yes. Please specify number of options and the frequency with which they are offered:

- Vegan items are available daily at all meal times in all three of Villanova’s all-you-care-to-eat resident dining halls. Students have selections of vegan cheese, tofu, yogurts, breads, and other items.

- A vegan entrée and sides are offered at lunch and dinner daily in the resident dining halls.

- Retail operations regularly offer vegan entrées.

- Vegan soup is offered daily on campus.

21) Please list and give percentages for any other sustainably produced food items you purchase that are not included above
:
FAIR TRADE PRODUCTS
22) Do you purchase Fair Trade Certified coffee?
No
[X] Some. Please describe: 100 percent of coffee purchased by Villanova is fairly traded, and 80 percent is Fair Trade Certified.

[75 percent] Percentage purchased that is Fair Trade Certified. Type of item: Teas
Villanova purchases coffee and teas from Pura Vida, a nonprofit company operated for charitable benefit with proceeds directed to support families and children in coffee-growing regions.

25) If you offer disposables, please indicate materials used (check all that apply).
[X] Plastic or polystyrene
[X] Postconsumer recycled content
[X] Biodegradable/compostable
Other
An example of a successful eco-friendly incentive program on campus is that Villanova Dining Services offers ultra-filtered and flavored tap water from Aqua Health Waters in dining outlets across campus to reduce bottled-water consumption. Through this system, filtered tap water is dispensed from equipment comparable to juice and soda fountain dispensers. Students are educated to use the Aqua Health Water in place of bottled waters. As an added incentive for participation, in 2008 Villanova partnered with Aqua Health Water to ensure that 5 percent of Aqua Health Water sales on Villanova’s campus is donated to two charities:

26) Do your dining facilities offer discounts or cash incentives to individuals using reusable dishware, bringing a bag, or bringing reusable containers
?
No
[X] Yes. Please describe: The Villanova Quarter Club mug program offers a 25-cent discount to faculty, staff, and students who use a refillable mug for coffee, tea, milk, or fountain beverages. Villanova also offers a discount on reusable cups and bottles for beverages.

27) Do your dining facilities use any polystyrene products (i.e., Styrofoam)?
No
[X] Yes. Please describe: In some retail outlets, polystyrene plates are used for to-go items.

FOOD COMPOSTING AND WASTE DIVERSION
28) Do your dining facilities compost preconsumer food scraps?
[X] Yes. Please indicate the proportion of dining facilities that run preconsumer compost programs (e.g. two out of five dining facilities) and, if available, the combined annual tonnage composted.
[3 out of 19] Proportion of dining facilities that run pre-consumer compost programs.

Villanova Dining Services has been recycling frying oil fats and pre- and post- consumer food waste for nearly 50 years. Ninety percent of Villanova’s fryer shortening is reclaimed by Restaurant Technologies, Inc. in Aston, Pennsylvania. Villanova’s current composting initiative ensures that food scraps and other appropriate wastes are upcycled by a local composter, Two Particular Acres (http://www.twoparticularacres.com/). Prior to this composting initiative, which began in 2007, Villanova had been upcycling food waste for almost five decades through a collaboration with a local pig farmer.

31) Do your dining facilities have a trayless dining program?
No
Sometimes--on specific days, on certain occasions, or in specific locations. Please describe:
[X] Yes—standard practice. Please describe program including date started and, if available, data on reduced food waste or water consumption: In 2008, all three of Villanova’s all-you-care-to-eat resident dining halls became 100-percent trayless. The transition to trayless dining is described on the Villanova website here: http://blog.villanova.edu:8080/roller/dining/entry/villanova_s_trayless_dining_program

32) Please tell us about any other steps your dining facilities have taken to reduce waste (e.g., food waste auditing, recycling used cooking oil for biodiesel production):

In addition to the efforts described above, Villanova Dining Services has implemented the following initiatives to further reduce waste:

- In 2008, Villanova Dining Services initiated a new recycling program, “
Reduce and Re-Use,
” in two university retail outlets (Corner Grille and Italian Kitchen), which has resulted in
a 98-percent reduction in the trash stream
of these outlets. Daily trash removal has been reduced from 200 bags to 50 bags. Furthermore, by incorporating alternate package materials such as potato and corn and sugar starch-based containers (replacing the outlets’ Styrofoam to-go containers and all oil-resin disposables), offering only re-useable utensils, using refillable containers, and ensuring that items—from straws to cups and lids and trash can liners—are compostable,
Villanova sends nearly all of these outlets’ trash to the composting field.

37) Is the dining services director, or another dining services staff person, a member of any campus-wide environmental/sustainability initiatives or committees at your school?
No
[X]Yes. Please describe: Director of Villanova Dining Services serves on the Climate Communication Subcommittee. This working group was formed by the President’s Climate Commitment Core Team during the spring 2009 semester. The purpose of the Climate Communication Subcommittee is to meet regularly to share news and collaborate on the communication of all efforts that are occurring among Villanova faculty, staff, students, and groups—both informal and formal—to care for the environment.